Refrigerating apparatus.



W. A. OWEN.

REFRIGERATING APPARATUS.

APPLICATION FILED APR.19, 1913.

Patented Feb. 24, 19M

2 sums-43mm 1. 1 Z9 Z6 31 10 4 & z

fl f A Z 2.61 am. "13 9 //V VE/V TOR l/l/a MW ATTORNEYS W. A. OWEN.

REFRIGERATING APPARATUS.

APPLICATION FILED APR. 19, 1913.

Patented Feb. 24, 1914.

2 BHEBTE-BHEET 2.

ATTORNEYS UNITED STA'll. S Parana: OFFICE.

WILLIAM A. owEN, or JOHNSON CITY, TENNESSEE, IASSIGNOR T0 GRAND MANU- FACTURING COMPANY, OF JOHNSON CITY, TENNESSEE, A

rnN Essnn.

OORPORATION or REFRIGERATING APPARATUS.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented Feb. 24, 1914.

Application filed April'19, 1913. Serial No. 762,256.

To all whom it may concern Be it known that I, WILLIAM A. OWEN, a citizen of the United States, and a resident of Johnson City, in the county of Washington and State of Tennessee, have made certain new and useful Improvements in Refrigerating Apparatus, of which the following is a specification.

This invention relates to improvements in refrigerating systems or apparatus and has particular application to a combination refrigerator and ice. making machine.

In carrying out the present invention, it is my purpose to provide a refrigerating apparatus whereby articles or eatables, such as meats and the like of a perishable nature, may be kept cool and by means of which the operation of making ice may be carried on.

It is also my purpose to provide an apparatus of the class described which will be constructed in such manner that the flow of ammonia or refrigerating agent will be maintained constant and uniform automatically so as to avoid fluctuations in the flow of such refrigerating agent and at the same time enable ice to be made as rapidly as possible.

A further object of my invention is to provide means for automatically shutting off communication between the ice chamber and the storage chamber of the refrigerator whenever the doors are opened.

Furthermore, I aim to provide a refrigerating apparatus which may be installed and maintained at a minimum cost and wherein the brine surrounding the freezing cans will be agitated and circulated in such manner as to abstract the heat units from the liquid within the cans and refrigerator evenly and uniformly and wherein the ammonia will circulate through the brine so as to keep the latter cold.

WVith the above and other objects in view, the invention consists in the construction, combination and arrangement of parts hereinafter set forth in and falling within the scope of the claims.

In the accompanying drawings, Figure 1 is a vertical section along the line 11 of Fig. 3, Fig. 2 is a horizontal'section along the line 2-2 of Fig. 1, Fig. 3 is a side view of the apparatus, Fig. 4 is an enlarged sectional View showing the means for circulatbrine tank, Fig. 6 is a detail View of a por t1o n of the mechanism for operating the guide valve, and Fig. 7 is a sectional view along the line 77 of Fig. 6.

Referring now to the accompanying drawmgs 1n detail, A designates a refrigerator box or casing composed of any suitable material, such, for instance, as wood and d1v1ded, in the present instance, into vert cal compartments 1, 2 by means of a vertical partition 3, the compartment 2 bemg divided into superposed chambers by means of a transverse partition or division wall 4. The division walls 3 and 4: are prov ded with openings 5. That in the partition 4 is controlled by a cut-off valve 6. This valve, when the doors are closed, is in open position so that the air within the box may circulate freely, while when either one or both of the doors is open, the valve is closed so as to check or prevent the circulation of air through the box.

The upper chamber in the compartment 2 1s provided with a removable cover 7, while suitably secured to the inner side walls of the said compartment adjacent to the bottom wall thereof are brackets 8 upon which rests a tank 9 adapted to contain brine or the like and provided with a removable top 10 having a number of openings formed at the center thereof and equipped with removable closures 11. Suitably secured to the inner side walls of the brine tank 9 adjacent to the upper end thereof is a pair of cross bars 12, the bars intersecting each other at right angles and dividing the brine tank, in effect, into four vertical chambers adapted to receive cans 13 each adapted to be placed in and removed from the respective chamber by means of the closures 11 above such chamber, the bottoms of the cans 13 seating within recesses or the like in a base 14 resting upon the bottom wall of the tank 9.

Arranged within the brine tank 9 and surrounding the cans 13 therein is a coil 15 provided with an intake or inlet 16 at the lower end thereof and an outlet or discharge 17 at the upper end.

The numeral 18 designates an ammonia compressor conveniently located with respeet to the refrigerator box A, while 19 indicates an appropriate form of motor belted or otherwise connected up to the compressor l8 and designed to drive the same.

Leading from one end of the cylinder of the compressor 18 is a supply pipe 20 in open communication with the upper end of a condenser 21 which communicates at its lower end with a receiver 21 from which latter leads a pipe 22 equipped with an expansion valve 23 and tapped into the coil 15 by way of the inlet 16 in such coil. Leading from the outlet 17 of the coil is a pipe 24 tapped into one limb of a T-coupling 25 and in open communication with a suction or re turn pipe 26 also connected to the T-coupling 25 and leading into the cylinder of the compressor 18 at the end of such cylinder opposite from the pipe 20. Leading out of the free limb of the T-coupling 25 is a nipple 27 and connected to such nipple is a pressure controlled regulator comprising a diaphragm or bellows 2S capable of expanding and contracting under pressure and provided at its upper end with an upstanding lug 29, while secured to the nipple 27 below the diaphragm or bellows is a yoke 30 having the opposite arms thereof projecting up wardly above the diaphragm. Pivotally connected to one of the arms of the yoke and passing through a guide slot in the other arm of the yoke is a lever 31 resting upon the lug 29 on the bellows and having the free end thereof provided with an adjustable weight 31 and pivotally connected to one extremity of a rod 32 connected at its free end to a crank 33 on the stem or axis of the expansion valve 23.

In the operation of the refrigerating system, the compressor 18 is driven from the driving motor or prime motor 19 and draws the heat laden ammonia vapor from the coil and delivers it under pressure to the condenser, in which it is liquefied in the usual way, the condenser being subjected to the cooling action of water-from the house service system or other suitable source of sup ply. The liquefied ammonia feeds from the receiver 21 into the coil by way of the pipe 22, its feed being controlled by the expansion valve 23 which is governed by the action of the automatic regulator to vary the feeding action according to the pressure in the coil. The ammonia passing the expansion valve into the coil extracts the heat from the brine and is converted in av greater or less amount of time into vapor, the heat laden vapor being withdrawn from the coil through the suction pipe by the pump and forced again to the condenser for 1iquefaction.

It will be understood, of course, that the pressure in the coil will depend upon temperature conditions, the pressure rising and falling according to the amount of heat to be extracted from the brine, the pressure in the coil ranging .ordinarily from 15 to 30 pounds, which mav be maintained by adjustment of the weight on the regulator as desired to vary the resistance of the diaphragm to expansion. Under these conditions, and as a bottom feed is used, the coil may be kept practically flooded with liquid ammonia, thus increasing the heat extraeting efiiciency of the coil. As the pressure rises and falls above or below the prescribed limit, the diaphragm expands or contracts, thus automatically controlling the lever 31 to open or close the expansion valve to regu late the feed of the liquid ammonia-from the receiver to the coil. It will accordingly be apparent that an apparatus embodying my improved system of supplying ammonia to the coil secures greater eflicicncy over prior systems employing a top feed or in which the feed of ammonia to the coil is constantly fixed or regulated by manual control. My invention automatically regulates the feed of the ammonia according to temperature and pressure conditions, thus obtaining a maximum efiiciency.

In order that the brine contained within the tank 9 may be agitated and maintained at a uniform temperature, I employ an agitator composed, in the present instance, of a conduit located within the brine tank and comprising a vertical section of pipe 35 ar-- ranged within the upper portion of the tank, a second vertical section 36 opening into the lower portion of the tank at a point diametrically opposite the section 35, and a horizontal section 37 interconnecting the vertical sections and 36. The horizontal section 37 of this conduit is extended outwardly of the tank 9 and the adjacent wall of the refrigerator box A beyond the connection between such horizontal section and the ver tical section 35, and journaled within the extended portion of the section 37 is an agitator shaft 38 carrying at its inner end a series of agitating blades 39 arranged radially of the shaft 35 and disposed at a helical pitch with respect to the axis of the shaft (see Fig. 4). Upon the outer end of the agitator shaft 38 is suitably secured a sheave wheel 40 over which is trained an endless belt 41, the latter being also trained over a driving pulley 42 secured to the shaft of the compressor, 18 and rotating the shaft 38 through the medium of the belt 41 in the operation of the compressor. By means of this construction, it will be seen that as the com pressor operates, rotary motion will be transmitted to the agitator shaft whereby the blades 39 will revolve with the effect to draw the comparatively warm brine from the top of the tank and force the same downwardly and into and around the bottom of the tank thereby maintaining the brine at a constant temperature.

A deflector plate 43 preferably surmount-3 the bottom wall of the upper chamber of the compartment 2 in the box A and is inclined with respect to the bottom wall of such compartment and spaced apart therefrom, while leading from the said compartment is a siphon tube 44 by means of which, and the deflector plate 43, any liquid dripping from the outer surface of the tank 9, incident to sweating, will be carried off.

The means by which the cut-off valve 6 is operated is best shown in Figs. 6 and 7. The double doors are shown at 45, while the operatin strip is shown at 46. Each door is provided with a lock 47. having a handle 48, which when raised will cause the lifting of a latch 49 as in the ordinary refrigerator. Each latch 49 is provided with a slotted retaining plate 50. At 51 I have shown a leaf spring having a slot 52 at its upper end to provide spring extensions 51 of the spring 51. These extensions have lateral integral portions 51 arranged to extend behind the latches 49. The upper end of these extensions 51 are provided with stop members 51 (see Fig. 7 A housing 53 for a plunger 54 is secured to the parting strip 46. The plunger has lateral extensions 54 extending 111st above and arranged to be engaged by the latches 49. A spring 55 tends-to keep the plunger 54 in its lowest position. The plunger is connected at 56 with a lever 57 pivoted at 58 and con nected by a link 59 with a lever 60 pivoted at 61 upon the partition 4 and bearing the valve 6. The latter has a stem 6 arranged to enter the central opening of a spider or frame 6 so as to guide the valve 6 in its movement.

When either one of the handles 48 is lifted to open the door the upward movement of its latch 49 will cause the latter to engage the laterally extending portion 54 of the plunger 54. The upward movement of the plunger 54 will, cause the lifting of the link 59 and of the lever61 and the consequent lowerin of the valve 6 onto its seat, thereby shutting ofl' the circulation of air from the ice chamber into the lower compartment As soon as the bottom of the plunger clears the end of either of the spring extensions 51" the stop member 51 carried by such spring will spring out underneath the plunger and prevent the return of the plunger to its normal position as long as the door is open. Now when the door is closed the latch 49 will engage the lateral extension 51 of the spring 51 thus forcing the stop member 51 out of the path of the plun er 54 and permitting the latter to descen under the influence of the spring 55.

The valve 6 will therefore be raised and air may be again circulated-between the lower compartment and the ice chamber. Obviously a valve of similar nature might be provided for the upper opening 5 of the partition 3 without departing from the spirit of the invention.

It will be seen that I have provided a refrigerating apparatus or system wherein meats or other perishable articles may be disposed within the box or refrigerator A and kept cool while ice may be made or manufactured readily and quickly and without impairing the cooling qualities of the box or casing.

I claim:

1. In a refrigerator, an ice chamber, a cooling chamber provided with an opening leading into the ice chamber, a cut-off valve for said opening, a door for said cooling chamber, means actuated by the opening of the door for bringing the cut-off valve into position, said means comprising a latch, a plunger arranged to be engaged by the latch, means including levers and links for transmitting the movement of the plunger to the cut-off valve, and a spring stop mem ,ber. arranged to hold the plunger stationary when the door is opened and'to be pushed out of the way of the plunger by the latch when the door is closed.

2. In a refrigerator, an ice chamber, a cooling chamber, a pair of doors for said refrigerator, each being provided with a handle and a latch operated by said handle, a plunger having lateral extensions arranged to be engaged by either of said latches, a conduit between said cooling chamberand said ice chamber, a cut-off valve for said conduit, means including levers and links for imparting the movement of said plunger to said cut-off valve, a pair of spring stop members being normally held out of alinement with the plunger by one of said latches, the releasing of a latch serving to permit the spring stop member to engage the plunger and to hold it in its shifted position, the closing of the door serving to bring the latch into engagement with the spring, thereby forcing the latter out of the way of the plunger and permitting the retraction of the latter into its normal position.

WILLIAM A. OWEN. Witnesses:

W. B. HARRISON, Jon A. SUMMnRs. 

